LeGarrette Blount was wrong. ”Completely out of line” is putting it mildly.

Period.

But so was Oregon for booting him from the team for the rest of the year.

The Ducks AD and the OU football staff can’t speak the truth on this, because it’s not politically correct. But I will. These “taunting sessions” that go on in football (and a lot of other sports for that matter) create these hostile environments where someone like Blount – emotionally charged after a tough loss – snaps and loses his cool when a member of the other team says or does something that’s intended solely to disrespect the player or his program.

I’m not going to say Byron Hout got what was coming to him.

Wait, I AM going to say that, actually.

Byron Hout got what was coming to him.

It’s bad enough that LOSING players don’t exactly know how to handle defeat with class, but it speaks volumes about the nature of the WINNERS when they don’t know how to handle victory with grace.

I have no idea what went on throughout the game on Thursday night. Maybe LeGarrette Blount was taunting Hout and his teammates from Boise State for 60 minutes. That’s certainly possible. In that regard, maybe Blount got what was coming to him, as well.

They should all be ashamed of themselves…Hout, Blount, all of the parties involved.

I remember – in the “old days” – you always got the last word, the best word, in any sports event in which you or your team was winning by simply saying these four words — “LOOK AT THE SCOREBOARD”.

It always worked in Little League at Sawmill Park in Glen Burnie.

“We won the game…just look at the score.”

There’s no need to taunt when you’re winning, yet there was Hout afterwards, running up to Blount with his own personal drive-by attempt, whacking him on the shoulder and saying something that clearly sent Blount through the roof.

Blount was wrong for punching Hout. No doubt about that.

Hout was wrong for what he did. No doubt about that.

Oregon caved in to the ESPN pressure by jettisoning Blount from the team. No doubt about that, either.

Sit him out a few games. Fly him to Boise and make him apologize to Hout personally, in front of the TV cameras and newspaper writers — talk about an ESPN moment…they’d cover that thing live. Come up with 6 other things for Blount to do to show contrition and attone for his poor decision.

Kicking him off the team? Wrong.

As for Hout, he’s a prime example of what’s wrong with sports today.

Play the game — play it hard and fair — and when it’s over and you’re the winner, shake the other guy’s hand and go to the locker room and do cartwheels with your teammates.

This taunting — which, ironically, is probably something created by the ESPN era — has to stop. These obvious efforts to disrespect the other players or the other team are not things we want OUR kids to learn and do when they grow up to play sports.

If Ethan were old enough to understand what happened on Thursday, I’d point to that kid Hout taking a fall like Ken Norton and saying, “You see, E, that’s what happens when you win and you taunt the other team after they’ve just played their heart out and lost.”

I hear Boise State is going to discipline Hout in some fashion. Yeah, I bet.

Meanwhile, Blount’s college career is over and his professional hopes have certainly been dinged up a bit after Thursday’s incident.

It’s a shame.

Blame it on Blount for losing his cool.

Blame it on Hout for being an idiot after his team won.

Blame it on ESPN for showing it 120 times in 10 hours.

Blame it on Oregon for COMPLETELY over-reacting.

Blame it on today’s generation of kids…you know, the ones who think taunting and embarrassing your opponent is actually more important than the final score itself.